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The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance is one of the most prestigious events in the classic car world. You can’t take two steps on the lawn without tripping over something rare, beautiful, and ungodly expensive. With so many incredible cars, it’s difficult to narrow down a list to include only the very best of the best. Nevertheless, here are our favorites from this year’s Pebble Beach show.

1949 Mercury 9CM Sam Barris Custom Coupe

You’re looking at the first 1949-51 Mercury coupe to receive the chop-top treatment for which they would become famous and highly desirable for hot rod heads worldwide. Legendary car customizer Sam Barris took 4 inches of roof height from the profile and further slicked it back with a fade-away fender line treatment, Buick side trim custom tail lights, and Frenched headlights. The look was so dramatic, we put it on the cover of the December 1951 issue of Motor Trend. – Ed Loh

1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Touring Berlinetta

This Alfa Romeo exudes elegance and exclusivity; it’s one of six Berlinetta models made in the production run of forty 8C 2900B cars built from 1935 to 1939. It’s a standout in a class of stunning vehicles because of its unique details — the concentric dish wheels, horizontally vented spats, and double strip of chrome running the length of the vehicle. It’s also a winner: it’s been awarded Best of Show six times in 10 years, including Pebble Beach 2008. – Ed Loh

1938 Graham Model 97 Saoutchik Convertible

I’m an unrepentant sucker for Art Deco, so I’ve decided to theme my best-of-the-show choices accordingly. I’ll lead off with the best example: the Graham Model 97 Saoutchik Convertible. The shark nose, the sweeping chrome character lines down the sides, the central tail fin, the flush, chrome-trimmed, square headlights; everything about it is perfect. The sliding doors are just icing. – Scott Evans

1930 duPont Model G Merrimac Speedster

Function and form work hand-in-hand on this beautiful duPont. The general shape is purposeful and to-the-point, but the beauty’s in the details. The slat grille, the flowing, one-piece fenders, the central one-person jump seat, the tiny piece of artillery on the hood; it’s a subtle application of a normally extravagant style, and it’s been applied perfectly. – Scott Evans

1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Touring Spider

The whole car leans back, as if stretched by the wind at high speeds. It looks like it’s traveling 200 mph when it’s sitting still. The tall, narrow, canted-back grille, the long, chrome accent lines on the hood and sides, the long teardrop fenders, the straked rear wheel covers finished in chrome, the swept back windshield; it all gives the illusion of speed. – Scott Evans

1937 Delahaye 145 Franay Cabriolet

This car just oozes style. What’s more, there’s a clear theme in the detailing. Look at all the chrome elements: the grille, the side strakes, the fender caps, the wheel cover accents, and even the tops of the headlight chrome trim rings. Everything points rearward, suggesting speed even at a standstill. – Scott Evans

1939 Bugatti Type 57C Vanvooren Cabriolet

How can you not love this car? The chrome-on-black contrast, the headlight covers, the covered front and rear wheels with chrome trim, the sheer length of it. The chrome side vents are both functional and stylish, helping to enhance the visual length of the car. The tiny windshield says it all: form first, function second. – Scott Evans

1902 Panhard et Levassor Type B1 Saloon

This car — more than a century old — received more cheers than nearly any other as Pebble cars rolled into the greens during what’s known as dawn patrol. Its scamper up a gentle hill was met by tires spinning, leaving very skinny tire marks on one section of the path. So the four-cylinder Panhard endeared itself to the early morning crowd, but it features rewarding details and a cool rear entry for the rear seats that are canted slightly toward one another. Purchased by Merle and Peter Mullin in 2009, we hear the car is regularly driven. – Zach Gale

1952 Cunningham C-3 Vignale Coupe

Featured in its own class, some of the Cunninghams made quite an impression as they rolled by at dawn patrol. My favorite was this three-tone coupe, an original color scheme restored by the car’s current owner. Cunningham was based out of West Palm Beach, Florida, a fact reinforced by each car’s hood badge. – Zach Gale

1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Touring Spider

To echo Scott’s comments, this car epitomizes automotive design that looks like it’s moving while parked. The partially covered wheel wells leave enough of the wire wheel exposed to draw interest, and the pulled-back grille is alluring as well. The 2900B model first won a race in 1947 at the Mille Miglia. – Zach Gale

1939 Bugatti Type 57C Vanvooren Cabriolet

This beautiful French car was nearly scrapped in 1959. The car was originally a gift from the French government to the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi after he married his second wife, Princess Fawzia of Cairo. We’re so glad that an automotive design so captivating survived, after coming so close to destruction, selling for $275 in 1959. – Zach Gale

1957 Fiat Stanguellini Bertone Spider

This Fiat, a one-off, is charmingly different. The drop-top’s style is ’50s futuristic, with tail fins and a visually engaging depression of the sheetmetal just behind the front wheels. The car was restored by the current owner in 1994, when he found the car in what the Pebble Beach Concours describes as “very sad condition.” – Zach Gale

1926 Renault 45MC Menessius Cabriolet de Ville

Your Motor Trend technical director scoured the lawns this year looking for speed records and cool features. This monster shares its 2-ton rolling chassis and 9.0-liter six-cylinder side-valve engine with the Renault 40 CV NM model that set a world record of 100 mph for 24 hours on July 9, 1926 driven by Plessier and Garfield of France. It was the first passenger car in the world to do so. – Frank Markus

1935 Auburn 851 Supercharged Union City Body Co Speedster

This fetching supercharged boat-tail speedster is one of several record-setting cars on the lawn for 2015, having been piloted by AB Jenkins to an average speed of 100.1 mph over a 12-hour period — it’s said to have been the first regular production car to do so. The run is believed to have been made on the company’s test track in Auburn, Indiana. This car is number 62 of 134 built, most of which were slow to sell but drew customers into dealerships where they helped sell the more practical body styles. – Frank Markus

1955 Bentley R-Type Continental HJ Mulliner Fastback

This beautifully preserved original-condition R-Type Continental was completed on July 3, 1954 and is one of just 11 with left-hand drive, lightweight seats, and a center-mounted gear-change. In its day it was billed as the world’s fastest four-seater, with a top speed of 120 mph. It was also the world’s most expensive production car. This one is still “enthusiastically driven” on the road. Bravo! #notrailerqueens – Frank Markus

1939 Bugatti Type 57C Vanvooren Cabriolet

Technical marvels and curiosities found on this fetching Bug (which was bodied by Vanvooren, a cross-town Parisian rival of Figoni et Falaschi), include a folding cloth top that conceals beneath a hard tonneau flush with the bodywork (as nearly all do today), and a windshield that can be cranked down into the bodywork. It was originally owned by the Shah of Persia, Mahammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. As Zach mentioned, after the revolution it was nearly scrapped, but instead was sold for $275. Such a deal! – Frank Markus

1927 Bentley 3 Liter Vanden Plas Sports Tourer

This car looks like any nicely restored old Bentley, but the story of its restoration is pretty unique. Its wood-framed body was originally covered in Rexine fabric, a synthetic leather-like material that predated water-based vinyl, that was composed of some pretty scary chemicals (cellulose nitrate, camphor oil, pigment, and alcohol). It hadn’t been made in decades, and no substitute material really looks the same. So the owners of this car set out to recreate it, locating an original WW1-era coating machine in a derelict factory and reverse-engineering the pliable 5-2 twill cotton cloth and 22-coat process that results in this material. This car’s Rexine is smooth, but various textures can also be embossed in. – Frank Markus

1939 Atalanta Abbott Drophead Coupe

Never heard of an Atalanta? Blame bad timing. Founded by Albert Gough of Frazer Nash and Bert Bertelli from Aston Martin, only 20 were built before the war scuppered the market. But they were tech tours de force, built on a tubular steel chassis with fully independent coil-sprung suspension at each corner. Heady stuff for 1939. Engine choices spanned from 1.5- or 2.0-liter fours to a 4.4-liter Lincoln Zephyr V-12. This is the sole surviving Atalanta. – Frank Markus

1935 Lancia Augusta Farina Coupe

This fetching “personal coupe” was built by Stabilimenti Farina for the Contessa Carla Centenari Viscardi from Como, whose initials still appear on the door. Lancia cars often debuted new technologies, and this one boasts a few, including a combination-lock gas cap, flexible bumpers front and rear, a rear-view mirror with integrated clock, and Revelli-designed side vent window/wind deflectors. – Frank Markus

1938 Graham Model 97 Saoutchik Convertible

Check out the crazy parallel opening doors on this spectacular shark-nose Graham. One of two supercharged Model 97s bodied by French carrossiers Saoutchik with these heavy door hinges that make it easy to get in and out in tight quarters. They were shown at the 1938 Prix d’Avant-Garde in Lyon France, and then this one was purchased by Mr. Maurice Reb, who joined the French Army and used this car to drive General Alphonse Pierre Juin around Algiers. – Frank Markus